In the manufacture of soaps and other products, it is desirable that the process and equipment are adaptable to different sizes of product. For instance, it may be desirable to manufacture different sizes of soap bar on the same manufacturing line.
In general, soap bars are formed in a press, after which they are conveyed to a cartoner, in which they are packaged. In present practice, soap bars may be transported from the press to the cartoner using adjustable buckets. Thus soap bars of differing widths can be accommodated. However, current adjustable soap buckets include a screw which must be loosened to adjust the bucket. This can lead to errors and result in a slowdown in the line while the screw is unscrewed, the bucket is adjusted, and the screw is again screwed into place.
The Guttinger et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,514, discloses a variable-width conveyor bucket. The Guttinger et al. conveyor bucket includes a serrated section on the upper face of a base member, a correspondingly serrated mating section provided on the underface of a second wall member and a spring-loaded locking means releasably retaining the serrated sections in interlocking engagement at a desired bucket width.
Dieter, U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,701, discloses a product bucket for an automatic cartoning machine having a channel-shaped element and a divider, the position of which may be adjusted with respect to the channel-shaped element.
Palmieri, U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,855, discloses an apparatus for transferring soap bars to be wrapped. Cradles for the soap bar are disclosed in, e.g., FIGS. 5 and 6. The sections or halves 103 of the cradles 3 can be brought into close proximity.
Pisoni et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,264,292; Gorrieri, U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,043; and Binacchi, U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,240, disclose soap handling machines.
Greenwell, U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,067, discloses a cartoner having product bucket elements that are adjustable to accommodate different sizes of cartons. The disclosure is directed to automatic means for accomplishing the adjustment.
Greenwell, U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,540, is directed to a cartoner having product bucket elements that are adjustable to accommodate different sizes of cartons. Automatic means for accomplishing the adjustment are disclosed.
Bulwith, U.S. Pat. No. 4,159,762, is directed to an apparatus for transferring containers of different dimensions.
Kilner, U.S. Pat. No. 3,580,381, is directed to a method and apparatus for conveying drupe halves.